4. For a period which is circumscribed by, and may determine during a life or lives, as, 1st, During widowhood. 2d, During chastity. Sd, While sole... 4th, Till the return of A. from Rome, and the like; of which a great variety of examples, with the circumstances that distinguish estates of uncertain duration, which are of freehold, from those which are of inheritance, will be found in the essay on estates (n). And some of these estates of freehold may be transmissible to heirs, or heirs of the body; still, however, they are merely estates of freehold, and not of inheritance. The heirs are to take by special occupancy or designation, not by descent (o). Estates of inheritance are, 1st, Estates in fee simple. 2d, Qualified fees. 3d, Determinable fees. 4th, Fees subject to conditions.. 5th, Fees conditional, and 6th, Estates-tail, in all their varieties (p). And whatever is the nature or extent of (n) Chap. Estates for Life. (0) Low v. Burron, 3. P. W. 262. Grey v. Manock,, stated 6 Term Rep. 292. Doe v. Blake, 6 Term Rep: 289. (P) Essay on Estates. Chap. Fee. the freehold, vested in the tenant, whether it is of the superior or inferior denomination, is of no material importance to the validity of the recovery. All that is regarded is, thatthe tenant shall have the freehold: no attention is paid to the circumstance, that the estate is absolute or conditional, indefinite or indeterminable. It will be sufficient, even though it should continue in the tenant only for an instant; as in case of a grant made within the term to A. and his heirs till he shall be tenant of the freehold. Though the freehold commences, and, as it should seem, determines in the same instant, under this grant, the rule of law, which requires that the tenant shall have the freehold before judgment is given, is satisfied. Who shall be said to have the Freehold. It must not be understood, that the law requires no more than that the tenant shall have an estate of freehold.Any estate of freehold or inheritance would answer that description: he must have that estate which confers the interest, emphatically denomi nated the freehold; in other words, the immediate freehold, namely, the first of all the estates of freehold for example, when A. is tenant for life, remainder to B. for life in tail, or in fee, B. has an estate of frechold, but A. has the immediate freehold and it is he, or the person who claims under his conveyance, that must (to bar the estate-tail, &c.) be named tenant in the proceedings (q), unless indeed an end shall be put to his interest, by the surrender or merger of his estate: so as to accelerate the estate of the person in remainder or reversion; and thus confer on him the title to the immediate. freehold. Another conclusion to be drawn from these observations is, that the tenant must have (9) Pigot, 37. Smith ex dem. Dormer v. Parkhurst, 3 Atk. 135 2 Stra, 1105. the estate of freehold. A mere contingent executory interest is no estate, and will not answer the description of an estate of freehold (r). Whoever wishes to understand this subject in a scientific manner must pursue the learning of real actions. As an introduction to this interesting subject, the chapter on Freeholds in the Essay on Estates, will, it is hoped, be found of some use. (r) Sec Tracts on Cross Remainders, Index, vo. Executory. Who, in Point of Estate, &c. can make a sufficient Tenant to the Writ of Entry; and to what Extent in POINT OF SHARE. Any person in whom the freehold is vested, may convey it by a formal and efficient instrument, unless incapacitated by infancy, coverture, idiocy, or lunacy. The freehold in all cases belongs either to one person solely, or to several persons jointly; or to several persons in common or severalty: or to two persons as tenants by intireties (s). Thus there will be either a sole tenant of the freehold, joint-tenants, tenants in common, or tenants by intireties. Again, persons are to be considered as having the freehold either in their own right, or in right of some other person. When a person is solely seised, he alone may be, or may make, a tenant to the freehold of the intirety. When several persons are seised of the freehold as joint-tenants, or tenants in common, neither of them can, by a conveyance, make a tenant of the 'freehold for more than his aliquot part. Nor can a tenant in common (s) Essay on Estates. Introductory chap. p. 46 |